The Amygdala plays a key role in fear, excitement, and arousal; being located in the Limbic System. Under this description, it is the Amygdala that is activated in fight or flight situations as well as any other emotionally arousing experience.
Is there a direct relationship between the amygdala and long term memory storage?"
Recently, I found a study conducted by the National Academy of Sciences in Irvine, CA Within this study, researches set out to find an answer to this exact question. (Link on bottom of post.) In this study, the results were positive in that there is a direct relationship between amygdala activation and Long Term Memory storage.
"The findings of our studies using human subjects are consistent with those of dour other studies using animal subjects in indicating that memory storage is influenced by activation of B-adrenergic systems and the amygdala. Considered together, these findings provide strong evidence supporting the hypothesis that the amygdala, especially the baso-lateral nucleus, plays a central role in modulating the consolidation of long-term memory of emotionally arousing experiences," (McGaugh, Cahill, Roozendaal 6).Do You have distinct and vivid memories in which you were emotionally aroused from childhood?
http://www.pnas.org/content/93/24/13508.full.pdf
